SixesAlltheway
Ancient Mariner
Ah, I missed it was 2019 next.
Maidenfans Album Club: Purest of Pain - Solipsis
- Thread starter LooseCannon
- Start date
I know you deleted this but I am answering it anyway.
Anytime they would be applicable, nominate again! The rules are that albums can't be picked multiple times, and that an artist is only eligible to be chosen once every 12 months.
SixesAlltheway
Ancient Mariner
Wait, so, Does the 2019 album have to be metal and can it be a re-issue? @LooseCannon
It can be anything inside our generic hard rock & metal umbrella.
I would prefer it not be a re-issue, as re-issues aren't exactly new music.
Magnus
currently discounted
Magnus
currently discounted
SixesAlltheway
Ancient Mariner
What happened to the 00s I wonder. Big jump from the 90s to 2019. the 2000s also had good albums 
DJ James
A coma stole my name.
Bathory is a band (using that word loosely) I could probably never get enough of. Anyways, I'm excited to discuss the next album on our agenda, one Something Wicked This Way Comes. I'm about to put this album on so I'll just give some preliminary thoughts. Want to start by saying that was a nice writeup @Ariana . I remember the closing trilogy to be quite good and I still put on Prophecy from time to time. I love the line in there, "If it takes ten thousand years, we never will retreat.". I have to admit that I remember the soppy-er songs on here to be a low point for me, but it's been 5 years (I believe) since I've heard it in full! I'm excited to give this one a listen again.
This album probably represents the best that heavy metal had to offer at the time. Power metal was flourishing at the end of the 1990's. Some of my favorite power metal releases atleast came out at the tail end of the 90's (Somewhere Out in Space and Nightfall in Middle Earth anyone?). I also have to admit that I am not that versed in Iced Earth. At all. I'm no expert but I have heard: Night of the Stormrider, The Dark Saga (Night Prowler's favorite if my memory serves), this album, Alive in Athens, and either Framing Armageddon or The Crucible of Man. I can't remember.
Probably not, but I can't say for sure as I don't know 2000's era Iced Earth that well.
My nomination would have to go towards: Buckethead - Sigil Soundtrack. If I can't nominate that (as it is half something new/half compilation) I would select Voivod - The Wake.
This album probably represents the best that heavy metal had to offer at the time. Power metal was flourishing at the end of the 1990's. Some of my favorite power metal releases atleast came out at the tail end of the 90's (Somewhere Out in Space and Nightfall in Middle Earth anyone?). I also have to admit that I am not that versed in Iced Earth. At all. I'm no expert but I have heard: Night of the Stormrider, The Dark Saga (Night Prowler's favorite if my memory serves), this album, Alive in Athens, and either Framing Armageddon or The Crucible of Man. I can't remember.
Probably not, but I can't say for sure as I don't know 2000's era Iced Earth that well.
My nomination would have to go towards: Buckethead - Sigil Soundtrack. If I can't nominate that (as it is half something new/half compilation) I would select Voivod - The Wake.
Ariana
Black-and-white leopard
Oh, I missed this part. I'm not sure they're attempting to write the same music and consciously return to those days. Stu has a rather different sound and I don't think any of the last 3 records sounds like old IE. Maybe Plagues of Babylon a bit. I'll tell you something else though - I'm extremely happy they put their Ripper days behind. For good.
Well I wanted to get a halfway point in for 2019.What happened to the 00s I wonder. Big jump from the 90s to 2019. the 2000s also had good albums
I'm fine with the Buckethead nomination!
- Burning Times - I wouldn't really say that this is their Aces High, mainly because this is the best IE concert opener, whereas Aces High isn't Maiden's
Anyway, kickass song, but much better live, especially on AiA. - Melancholy (Holy Martyr) - One of 4 great ballads on this album. IE on this album has more awesome ballads than some bands have in their entire career. However, this one might be the weakest of those 4
- Disciples Of The Lie - Barlow is brutal on this song. Organ interlude is pretty awesome and unexpected for a thrashy song like this one.
- Watching Over Me - This song is about Schaffer's childhood friend Bill Blackmon, who died in a motorcycle accident just before Schaffer moved to Florida in 1984 (@Black Wizard, not sure if you heard about that). Lyrics are a bit cheesy but it's still a great song.
- Stand Alone - Another thrashy song but not as good as Disciples. Drumming on this song is awesome, as goes for the rest of the album. Mark Prator isn't IE's best drummer (Christy and Jarzombek were better), and might not be iconic as Smedley, but he really left a mark in their discography with his performances on this album and Dark Saga.
- Consequences - Most underrated song on this album. One of the two songs from it that was never played live. I think that the heavy guitar solo fits perfectly actually. Also, Barlow kicks ass after that part.
- My Own Savior - This one finishes the heavy song-ballad-heavy song pattern of the album in style. Chorus actually might be the weakest part of the song, but the thrashy verses make up for it.
- Reaping Stone - This one is by far the weakest song on the album. Never liked it. Riff is lame and the chorus is boring. Also, 2nd song from the album that was never played live
- 1776 - A tiny bit repetitive but still a pretty awesome instrumental, clearly inspired by Transylvania.
- Blessed Are You - This one is my favorite ballad on the album, however, it's another song that's better on AiA mostly because of the audience participation.
- Prophecy - Seems like I'm in the minority when I say that this one is the best song of the trilogy. Build up to that riff at 2:43 is simply incredible. Also, the solo is awesome.
- Birth Of The Wicked - Second best song in the trilogy that continues the relentlessness of the heavy part of Prophecy. Barlow is obviously still kicking ass here.
- The Coming Curse - Might be most overrated Iced Earth song. There's some great stuff here, but the song is too bloated and ultimately goes nowhere. 90 seconds of a piano intro is too much. Outro is drawn out too. Song goes downhill after the "I AM YOUR ANTICHRIST" part; buildup is great until that part, and it's disappointing that the song returns to the same verse/chorus from the beginning.
Overall: I'm not sure where I'd put this album on the list. Apart from Reaping Stone, all the songs on it are awesome, but the songs aren't as varied as on Horror Show or as epic as on Dark Saga. Still, Top 4 at least.
Best song(s): Prophecy, Birth Of The Wicked, Blessed Are You
I nominate Arch / Matheos - Winter Ethereal as the 2019 album.
DJ James
A coma stole my name.
Nice writeup NP. I might have to go back to Consequences again and give it a re-listen. I found it and My Own Savoir to be low-points of the album. Also, was Mark Prator ever an "official" Iced Earth member? My studies show that he was only ever a guest/session musician.
Wow this album, Something Wicked This Way Comes, is much longer than I remember. I’ve always often found that to be a problem with Power Metal: the albums are much too long. I’m not really drawn to the Power Metal genre that much anymore (maybe the album lengths got me after all?), but from the 5 odd Iced Earth albums I have heard, I think they’re a good band. I like that John Greely (the vocalist) Iced Earth had on Night of the Stormrider. He was emotive and carried the vocal melodies very well. My favorites off that albums include: Angels Holocaust, The Path I Choose, Desert Rain, and Travel in Stygian. I guess Matt Barlow replaced him on the album afterwards (Burnt Offerings). I haven’t heard that one yet but I have listened to the Alive in Athens version of Dante’s Inferno a lot and that song kicks ass.
Now I have heard The Dark Saga and Matt Barlow does a good job on that. I didn’t have a problem with Greely really, but Matt Barlow is sometimes a little too theatrical and I think Something Wicked is a good example of this. Something about the tone or how he expresses emotion through his voice is just a bit much. It’s like he ends all his vocal lines with this ‘kneeeyaHHHHH’ kinda shout (give Disciples of the Lie, a song I like quite a bit honestly, a listen). Think of how James Hetfield ends most of his vocal lines with ‘yeeaaaaAAHHHHH’, it’s kinda like that. But yeah it’s like someone forgot to tell Barlow this isn’t a Broadway performance and he should probably take it down a notch. His performances on the likes of Prophecy and Reaping Stone, however, are definitely stand out performances for myself.
Outside of his over the top-ness, Barlow is a pretty good vocalist for this kind of music - It’s supposed to be big and epic and just a little tongue in cheek. Speaking of performances on this album, Jon Schaffer is excellent here. I adore his riffing style, although I don’t think he’s reached the level that he was at on Night of the Stormrider. His riffs on Night of the Stormrider were frantic and swirling and completely epic. He trades the 100 mph head coma inducing thrash riffs on Night of the Stormrider for an almost Black Album commercialized heaviness here. He still does a great job at bringing that epicness and thrash to this album. I like thrashy Iced Earth quite a bit (Stand Alone is a good track to listen to for straightforward thrashy-ness). His riffs/guitar work on tracks like My Savior and Consequences gets a bit tired though.
As far as other members go, I was surprised to learn that (beyond bassist James MacDonough) they had guest/session musicians fill in the rest of the guitar work and drum work. The rhythm section is fine if not a little unremarkable. I wish the bass was higher in the mix altogether.
This album is surprisingly well rounded for how long it is. You have the power/thrash rockers like Burning Times, Stand Alone, and 1776 (an EASY album standout. The greatest power metal instrumental I HAVE EVER heard), the slower, “soppy” tracks with some GREAT melodies like Watching Over Me and Blessed Are You (oddly enough, I remember the ballads being low points for me when I first heard this album, but I thoroughly enjoyed 3 of the 4 on here; I don’t like Consequences though), and the absolutely awesome closing trilogy of Prophecy/Birth of the Wicked/The Coming Curse (more on these later). This album is almost like two separate releases. You have the base album and then the closing Something Wicked trilogy. The pacing (for an hour long album) is practically perfect. I thought it was gonna drag (as it’s been awhile since I’ve heard this album in full), but no, it didn’t drag at all. If I was more of an Iced Earth fan, then I’d probably be raving more about this album. But I just believe Iced Earth to be a good band. They’re not Top Ten for me or anything like that, but this album is fucking solid.
If you need a good intro to the band, I believe this is it. Again, I can’t get over how good the pacing is. They’re constantly shifting gears between the thrashers and the ballads (Of which there’s only really like 4). The highlights of the main body of work are definitely Watching Over Me, Stand Alone, Reaping Stone, and 1776 (fuckin’ classic). I think those are 4 good samplers of what to expect from the album. All feature good guitar melodies and Matt Barlow doesn’t go too over the top on them. Main body of work is great, and I overall consider this to be a good Power Metal album. Although, as far as my favorite late 90’s Power Metal releases go, this one just barely misses the mark. Albums like Somewhere Out in Space, Nightfall in Middle Earth, and RAGE’s Lingua Mortis and Ghosts are just in a league of their own for myself and I have a great deal of bias towards them. But Something Wicked is a good United States Power Metal landmark of the 90’s. Afterall, all the heavy hitters of 80’s USPM were either defunct, not releasing albums, or flying under the radar during this period (I’m talking Manilla Road, Omen, Cirith Ungol, Jag Panzer, Crimson Glory, and Fates Warning).
So, I’ve talked a lot about the main chunk of this album, but I’ve barely been mentioning the closing trilogy. So here it is, the Something Wicked trilogy is really one of the most well composed movements of 90’s heavy metal. A real treat to listen to. I am sure you all like epic heavy metal, and it doesn’t really get more epic than the beginning track, Prophecy. If you had to listen to one track off this whole thing, this whole album, it would have to be Prophecy. Birth of the Wicked and The Coming Curse are totally epic and have some well written riffs, but Prophecy is probably my 2nd favorite Iced Earth song of all time. I love the bass in it, and the lyrics and are just something straight out of a mid 80’s Judas Priest or Iron Maiden album. It is a very empowering track and totally drags you back into this album. Like I said, up until Prophecy you’ve already consumed 44 minutes of Iced Earth, but Prophecy doesn’t drag at all. It wakes you up almost and says, “this album fucking rules and you’re gonna sit there for another 18 minutes while I finish.” and you’re like, “ok dude, this album is pretty good go ahead”.
So Prophecy, great track and the best on the album for me. Birth of the Wicked is a nice and short package of some of the best epic material Iced Earth has to offer. If it wasn’t for the double bass barrage, it wouldn’t sound out of place on an album like A Matter of Life and Death. The Coming Curse is also a great closing track and it’s pretty ballsy to place the absolute longest song on the album at the tail end, but it totally pays off. The backing vocals of one Ms. Tracy Marie LaBarbera totally sell this one. Her backing vocals send it to another plane of power metal existence. What a glorious finish to an already good album (Jon Schaffers riffs can’t be missed here also, he has some epic ones on The Coming Curse).
Something Wicked This Way Comes helps to show that Power Metal was pretty much unaffected by the onslaught of the 90’s (Especially EUPM. Helloween, Gamma Ray, Grave Digger, Running Wild, Blind Guardian and plenty others all had pretty good ends to the 90’s). It did make me wonder however, why weren’t there more USPM bands delivering this level of quality during the late 90’s? Cheers.
Wow this album, Something Wicked This Way Comes, is much longer than I remember. I’ve always often found that to be a problem with Power Metal: the albums are much too long. I’m not really drawn to the Power Metal genre that much anymore (maybe the album lengths got me after all?), but from the 5 odd Iced Earth albums I have heard, I think they’re a good band. I like that John Greely (the vocalist) Iced Earth had on Night of the Stormrider. He was emotive and carried the vocal melodies very well. My favorites off that albums include: Angels Holocaust, The Path I Choose, Desert Rain, and Travel in Stygian. I guess Matt Barlow replaced him on the album afterwards (Burnt Offerings). I haven’t heard that one yet but I have listened to the Alive in Athens version of Dante’s Inferno a lot and that song kicks ass.
Now I have heard The Dark Saga and Matt Barlow does a good job on that. I didn’t have a problem with Greely really, but Matt Barlow is sometimes a little too theatrical and I think Something Wicked is a good example of this. Something about the tone or how he expresses emotion through his voice is just a bit much. It’s like he ends all his vocal lines with this ‘kneeeyaHHHHH’ kinda shout (give Disciples of the Lie, a song I like quite a bit honestly, a listen). Think of how James Hetfield ends most of his vocal lines with ‘yeeaaaaAAHHHHH’, it’s kinda like that. But yeah it’s like someone forgot to tell Barlow this isn’t a Broadway performance and he should probably take it down a notch. His performances on the likes of Prophecy and Reaping Stone, however, are definitely stand out performances for myself.
Outside of his over the top-ness, Barlow is a pretty good vocalist for this kind of music - It’s supposed to be big and epic and just a little tongue in cheek. Speaking of performances on this album, Jon Schaffer is excellent here. I adore his riffing style, although I don’t think he’s reached the level that he was at on Night of the Stormrider. His riffs on Night of the Stormrider were frantic and swirling and completely epic. He trades the 100 mph head coma inducing thrash riffs on Night of the Stormrider for an almost Black Album commercialized heaviness here. He still does a great job at bringing that epicness and thrash to this album. I like thrashy Iced Earth quite a bit (Stand Alone is a good track to listen to for straightforward thrashy-ness). His riffs/guitar work on tracks like My Savior and Consequences gets a bit tired though.
As far as other members go, I was surprised to learn that (beyond bassist James MacDonough) they had guest/session musicians fill in the rest of the guitar work and drum work. The rhythm section is fine if not a little unremarkable. I wish the bass was higher in the mix altogether.
This album is surprisingly well rounded for how long it is. You have the power/thrash rockers like Burning Times, Stand Alone, and 1776 (an EASY album standout. The greatest power metal instrumental I HAVE EVER heard), the slower, “soppy” tracks with some GREAT melodies like Watching Over Me and Blessed Are You (oddly enough, I remember the ballads being low points for me when I first heard this album, but I thoroughly enjoyed 3 of the 4 on here; I don’t like Consequences though), and the absolutely awesome closing trilogy of Prophecy/Birth of the Wicked/The Coming Curse (more on these later). This album is almost like two separate releases. You have the base album and then the closing Something Wicked trilogy. The pacing (for an hour long album) is practically perfect. I thought it was gonna drag (as it’s been awhile since I’ve heard this album in full), but no, it didn’t drag at all. If I was more of an Iced Earth fan, then I’d probably be raving more about this album. But I just believe Iced Earth to be a good band. They’re not Top Ten for me or anything like that, but this album is fucking solid.
If you need a good intro to the band, I believe this is it. Again, I can’t get over how good the pacing is. They’re constantly shifting gears between the thrashers and the ballads (Of which there’s only really like 4). The highlights of the main body of work are definitely Watching Over Me, Stand Alone, Reaping Stone, and 1776 (fuckin’ classic). I think those are 4 good samplers of what to expect from the album. All feature good guitar melodies and Matt Barlow doesn’t go too over the top on them. Main body of work is great, and I overall consider this to be a good Power Metal album. Although, as far as my favorite late 90’s Power Metal releases go, this one just barely misses the mark. Albums like Somewhere Out in Space, Nightfall in Middle Earth, and RAGE’s Lingua Mortis and Ghosts are just in a league of their own for myself and I have a great deal of bias towards them. But Something Wicked is a good United States Power Metal landmark of the 90’s. Afterall, all the heavy hitters of 80’s USPM were either defunct, not releasing albums, or flying under the radar during this period (I’m talking Manilla Road, Omen, Cirith Ungol, Jag Panzer, Crimson Glory, and Fates Warning).
So, I’ve talked a lot about the main chunk of this album, but I’ve barely been mentioning the closing trilogy. So here it is, the Something Wicked trilogy is really one of the most well composed movements of 90’s heavy metal. A real treat to listen to. I am sure you all like epic heavy metal, and it doesn’t really get more epic than the beginning track, Prophecy. If you had to listen to one track off this whole thing, this whole album, it would have to be Prophecy. Birth of the Wicked and The Coming Curse are totally epic and have some well written riffs, but Prophecy is probably my 2nd favorite Iced Earth song of all time. I love the bass in it, and the lyrics and are just something straight out of a mid 80’s Judas Priest or Iron Maiden album. It is a very empowering track and totally drags you back into this album. Like I said, up until Prophecy you’ve already consumed 44 minutes of Iced Earth, but Prophecy doesn’t drag at all. It wakes you up almost and says, “this album fucking rules and you’re gonna sit there for another 18 minutes while I finish.” and you’re like, “ok dude, this album is pretty good go ahead”.
So Prophecy, great track and the best on the album for me. Birth of the Wicked is a nice and short package of some of the best epic material Iced Earth has to offer. If it wasn’t for the double bass barrage, it wouldn’t sound out of place on an album like A Matter of Life and Death. The Coming Curse is also a great closing track and it’s pretty ballsy to place the absolute longest song on the album at the tail end, but it totally pays off. The backing vocals of one Ms. Tracy Marie LaBarbera totally sell this one. Her backing vocals send it to another plane of power metal existence. What a glorious finish to an already good album (Jon Schaffers riffs can’t be missed here also, he has some epic ones on The Coming Curse).
Something Wicked This Way Comes helps to show that Power Metal was pretty much unaffected by the onslaught of the 90’s (Especially EUPM. Helloween, Gamma Ray, Grave Digger, Running Wild, Blind Guardian and plenty others all had pretty good ends to the 90’s). It did make me wonder however, why weren’t there more USPM bands delivering this level of quality during the late 90’s? Cheers.
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Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
Having nominated it, I suppose I need to give it another listen and write something! Will do. I have always thought of this as the "studio album that led to the Alive in Athens live album" which is sort of a backhanded compliment, and I certainly listen to AiA a lot more. So it will be good to revisit this one. I recall liking it. Looking forward to reading others' comments as well.
In the meantime, love that we are doing 2019 releases next. At the risk of seeming greedy, given that I "won" the drawing this week, it would be cool for the group to tackle the new Idle Hands, Cellar Darling or Lunar Shadow albums. In any event, I will use this opportunity to plug the "Best of 2019" thread I opened, which I'd like to see get more action, as there are a lot of good young metal bands out there and it's great to get recommendations for a band that isn't in its 40s or older.
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Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
Spot on. I like Barlow but...spot on. (Sorry NP.)
I'd like to remind participants that
1) the purpose of Album Club is not to have structured album reviews, but instead album discussion.
2) comments in Album Club should be of substance and should not attack the opinions of others. Polite disagreements welcome.
1) the purpose of Album Club is not to have structured album reviews, but instead album discussion.
2) comments in Album Club should be of substance and should not attack the opinions of others. Polite disagreements welcome.
DJ James
A coma stole my name.
Sorry about my comment. It was a joke, as I interpreted NP's comment to be, I didn't want to derail the thread. As far as my post goes, I understand it may be a little review-y, I'll try to avoid that in the future. To summarize my discussion points:
Now compare that to USPM. I consider the first true USPM album to be Crystal Logic by Manilla Road. And that was 1983. Many great USPM albums would follow in the years: Open the Gates, The Deluge, King of the Dead, One Foot in Hell, Omen's first 3, Fates Warning 2nd and 3rd, Crimson Glory's first two... But I can't tell you why they all lost momentum going into the 90's. They all had a great sound I think by the end of the 80's. Cirith Ungol and Omen disbanded to my knowledge. Fates Warning lost a lot of popularity. Same with Crimson Glory. Manilla Road is the only band I can kind of explain why they went dormant in the 90's. Near the end of the 80's, starting with Mystification, they started to put more thrash in their sound. The 3 "thrash" albums they put out were good, but I get the feeling Mark The Shark Shelton was unhappy with the sound. He tried to record a solo album that was a step away from thrashier Manilla Road, but the record label made him release it as a Manilla Road album. I think that disheartened him, as it wasn't well received, and he didn't put out another Manilla Road album for the rest of the 90's.
But EUPM was 100% on fire for all of the 90's though. Maybe because it was "new" to the Germans? I don't know.
- Was Mark Prator, the drummer on this album, ever an "official" Iced Earth member? NP seemed to regard him as a full-time member in his post. However my studies show that he was only ever a guest/session musician.
- Was Matt Barlow a good replacement for John Greely? Were Iced Earth fans happy with the change? Did Matt Barlow give a good performance on this album?
- Should Jon Schaffer have given a little more thrash to the album or are Iced Earth fans happy with the balance between the Power Metal aspects and the Thrash Metal aspects?
- Was the rhythm section lacking on this album (they had two session guitarists and a session drummer for this album)?
- Is this album a good introduction to Iced Earth's discography? Would you recommend Night of the Stormrider or one of the Ripper albums or one of the Stu Block albums instead?
- Why did Power Metal especially, especially European Power Metal, flourish in the 90's? Why was USPM lacking in comparison?
Now compare that to USPM. I consider the first true USPM album to be Crystal Logic by Manilla Road. And that was 1983. Many great USPM albums would follow in the years: Open the Gates, The Deluge, King of the Dead, One Foot in Hell, Omen's first 3, Fates Warning 2nd and 3rd, Crimson Glory's first two... But I can't tell you why they all lost momentum going into the 90's. They all had a great sound I think by the end of the 80's. Cirith Ungol and Omen disbanded to my knowledge. Fates Warning lost a lot of popularity. Same with Crimson Glory. Manilla Road is the only band I can kind of explain why they went dormant in the 90's. Near the end of the 80's, starting with Mystification, they started to put more thrash in their sound. The 3 "thrash" albums they put out were good, but I get the feeling Mark The Shark Shelton was unhappy with the sound. He tried to record a solo album that was a step away from thrashier Manilla Road, but the record label made him release it as a Manilla Road album. I think that disheartened him, as it wasn't well received, and he didn't put out another Manilla Road album for the rest of the 90's.
But EUPM was 100% on fire for all of the 90's though. Maybe because it was "new" to the Germans? I don't know.
Of course I was joking...
...but Barlow is serious business and you should start worshipping asap.